Drywall – How to stop the peeling of new paint that’s not properly adhered to new drywall due to underlying spackle dust

drywallpainting

Is there any way to secure new paint over new drywall which is not properly adhered due to a thin layer of spackle dust?

During my whole house renovation, I prepared new drywall by thoroughly sweeping off spackle dust with the head of a broom. I assumed that using a wet rag or sponge would smear my beautifully smooth spackle, especially at its thin edges.

I primed the walls with Behr 75 tinted primer/sealer, then topcoated with one coat of Behr 7050 Premium Plus "Paint & Primer". The painted walls look perfect.

A few months later, my builders came to install trim, doors, and more. Their slightest scrapes against the wall pulled the paint off, as shown in the pictures below. It seems that the thin layer of spackle dust left behind after my thorough sweeping, which only a damp sponge could remove, prevented the paint from properly adhering to the new drywall.

Is there any way to secure this paint to the wall? Is there a coating I can apply to make it more robust so scratches won't peel the paint?

Peeling off the paint seems impossible. I trust I can't remove 100% of it, leaving edges between painted and unpainted surfaces. It may also ruin the spackle and sheetrock below, especially if I must do any scraping. Thanks for your help.

New paint over new drywall which wasn't wiped with a sponge.

Paint easily flaking due to underlying spackle dust.

Best Answer

After the fact? Sorry, no, the area where the problem is, is UNDER the paint, and adding something to the surface of the paint won't fix it. Scrape, sand or whatever it takes to get any poorly adhered paint off the wall, sand to feather edges, patch if need be, sand more, clean throughly, and repaint.

Or hire a pro painter to fix it...